Affiliate Marketing - The Basics

Affiliate Marketing is a great way to increase the revenue from your website. While it is generally quick and easy to set up an account as an affiliate, there are many things that you should know before you get started. Our goal at Affiliate Marketer Guide is to provide you the knowledge and tools you need to get the most out of your website.

What is Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is the selling and sharing of revenues between advertisers, merchants and publishers online. It is a method for promoting business on the web by connecting buyers and sellers and rewarding facilitators that referred the connection.

Who Are the Affiliate Marketers

Publishers and Salespeople are referred to as affiliates. They sell their leads to the advertisers and merchants who are then regarded as the affiliate merchants.

There are several technological solutions for advertisers, merchants and companies that would want to adopt affiliate marketing as an added strategy to their business. Common types of solutions include third party affiliate net works, hosted services, stand alone software, and shopping carts with affiliate features.

Benefits an Affiliate Marketer

Applying affiliate marketing strategy will generate potential for automating most of your advertising, like generating linkages, accepting applications, reporting and the tracking of results.

Compensation of an Affiliate Marketer

Payment is based on performances, the same as a sales person receives commission for a sale generated. An affiliate marketer is paid in terms of clicks (pay per click), registrations (pay per lead), sales (pay per sales) or its combinations. 

Compensation schemes are as varied as the merchants that have adopted the strategy. Depending on the company, the item that is being sold, and the value of the lead, commissions generally range anywhere from 1% to 20%

Because of the online traffic, many merchants have built programs known as affiliate networks. This marketing technique has helped many businesses to succeed and grow.

What you do

• Sign up to sell merchants products.
• You advertise products to attract visitors to your site.
• You generate referrals and sales to your client company
• The company pays you for (pay per click), registrations (pay per lead), sales (pay per sales) or its combinations.

What you do not need to do

• Since you are simply advertising or helping to advertise a merchant's product or publishers materials, this is a business that you do not have to come out with a product of your own.
•  Aside from your computer, phone lines and DSL routes, you do not need anything else.
•  No putting up of capital, no overhead costs, no commuting needed.
• No particular area that is being franchised. No geographic limitations.
• You have a free reign on your choice of products to endorse.
• No inventories, shipping, freight, sales processing, the merchant does all those functions.
• No renting of office spaces. Your office is where you are
  

Brief History of the Marketing Affiliate Program

Affiliate marketing started in 1996 with Amazon.com when it launched its affiliates program. Today the company has 450,000 sites in its network.

The basic idea is for small website owners to register with Amazon. The website owner then displays links, banners, and product descriptions on his website. When visitors to his site clicks and buys a book, the website owner is paid a commission on the generated sale. Simple.

As Amazon gained success other companies followed. Soon after, spamming caused a temparary negative reaction to affiliate marketing programs. It has since then matured where merchants have pushed for refinements in their program where affiliates were prohibited from spamming.

Today, affiliate marketing is a good marketing tool that is being adopted by companies and being enjoyed by affiliates. It is now common to see big businesses adopting the strategy in growing their respective businesses.

Adding affiliate products to your site will not only increase the earning potential of your web site, but also increase its value to your visitors.  By recommending solid products that you would consider using, you provide a valuable recommendation for you site visitor.